Weigh The Heart
by ThisAccountKillsFascists
Summary: Lucy's a witch! Twelve years ago, she cast a spell which set in motion a chain of events leading to the start of Lily's involvement with the ancient Egyptian pantheon, and now she's found herself in the Duat! Where will her adventure take her? [Rated K but might change to T later if my violence gets a bit too descriptive. This is a spin off of Loud Like Love!{which is rated M}]
1. Chapter 1: Beginnings and Ends

**Weigh The Heart: The Tale of Lily in the Duat**

 **[Author's Note: This story is a spin off of my major fic, Loud Like Love! However, I will only recommend you read that fic first if you are over 18 as it contains sexual content, as well as other mature material like violence, and is not for those weak of heart or young of mind. This fic was made so I could share this story with people who are under 18, and as such should be rated K+ or possibly T later on if I add some more graphic violence than originally intended.**

 **As such, you need some backstory before you understand fully what's happening here. 14 years after the events of the Loud House TV show, Lincoln and Lucy are living together in Oregon, having left Royal Oaks years ago, but Lucy only lives with him because she's not safe without her brother. Lucy is a witch, and 12 years before the events of this story, she cast a spell known as "The Grand Divination," which had the effect of putting both her and Lincoln in a coma, where they experienced a spiritual journey to the Palace of the Moon God, Thoth, an ancient Egyptian deity of the Mind and Knowledge and Written Word, and the Moon, and a bunch of other stuff. He blessed the whole of the Loud Family because of Lucy's spell, giving them protection from invisible, negative forces known only as the "Invisible Ones" that nobody really knows much about, even Thoth with his infinite wisdom.**

 **One side effect of the Grand Divination is that Lucy now has the Book of Thoth, an ancient "artifact" what was said to give the user infinite knowledge of the Gods, only she found out it's not a book at all. Instead, it's a power she can call upon whenever to essentially search history, past or future, or glean information out of nowhere. Also, as a witch, she's had the ability since she was 8 to just show up randomly, which is why she always freaks people out, because she seemingly shows up without even opening doors and the like (which she doesn't use doors, because of her spell-like abilities). So in this scene, she just kind of shows up.**

 **Another side effect of meeting Thoth in person and receiving his blessing, Lincoln finds that sometimes, when he learns something new, he also learns some weird bonus information that comes out of nowhere that he shouldn't have any reason he'd learned. For example, he has encyclopedic knowledge of giraffes. He doesn't even like giraffes.**

 **Anyway, years ago, Lincoln found a cottage in the wood inside of which was a sorcerer, evil magic users similar in ability to Lucy however they're far more vicious and not bueno and the like. Their grandpa gave Lincoln a statue, a relic left over as a souvenir from the Vietnam War's Battle of Hue City, where he found it inside of the ancient Imperial Capital of Vietnam. The statuette is little more than a slightly humanoid figure with some strange writing on it. So anyway!**

 **TL;DR: Egyptian lore turned out to be real, Lucy's a super powerful witch but it's a giant secret that only Lincoln's supposed to know about (although one other person knows this secret but it hasn't been revealed in the main story yet ;D ) and now Lily is being dragged into the fold of weird, strange events. HAVE FUN!]**

 **Chapter One: Beginnings and Ends**

The next morning, after searching the house for Lynn, and not finding her, Lincoln figured he'd best start his day and head over to his parent's house. Luckily it was just after Christmas so he was sure Lily wouldn't have school, it would benefit him because he didn't want to hang around an empty apartment. He made breakfast using some of Lynn's food, he was sure she wouldn't mind, and he went to his car for a change of clothes, since he had been wearing the same shirt for a couple days now. Once he was sorted and changed, he left, not needing to shower considering the night before.

His mind wandered to his youngest sister as he drove, he hadn't seen her in awhile either and by now she was fifteen, he was sure she was going to be an even more advanced version of the Lily he'd known for a few years before leaving Royal Oaks. He thought of her schooling, wondering what she might do after high school since she was already a sophomore. As he drove he pondered this, heading toward the new place his parents had moved into, much smaller, since they didn't need all the space for the large family anymore.

"Probably adventuring," said Lucy, and he was so surprised the whole car swerved as he jumped, and he straightened it out as best he could, before his head craned slowly to the side.

"Lucy, what did I say about doing that when I'm driving?" he asked, and she shrugged.

"You said not to do that or it could get us killed. But I know it won't." He groaned as the witch leaned against the car door, looking at her nails. She wasn't even wearing a seat belt.

"Could you at least pretend to do normal people things for awhile? Besides, aren't you supposed to be back home in Oregon?" He knew it was easy for her to simply appear around Royal Oaks or her family, since she was so in tune with the energies around anybody blessed by Thoth or any place she'd stayed long enough to perform binding rituals. She could be here and back in Oregon in an instant, but every time she surprised him with it, he wanted to smack her. He knew she did it because it was funny to her, even if she hardly ever laughed. Torturing siblings was a past time of the entire family, after all.

"I thought I'd go with you to see Lily," she said, and reached into the glove box, producing the statuette that Pop Pop had given him.

"Grandpa Albert's Ushabti? Nice. She'll probably want this." She rolled the small figurine in her hand, and read the inscription. The language was strange, it didn't sound like Egyptian or Vietnamese, he wondered what it was. Of course, she figured she'd tell him as he thought that.

"It's cuneiform, ancient Sumerian stuff. This thing must be older than dirt." She held it up and examined it, and he pulled onto the highway to head back in to Royal Oaks. When they got away from the city and things started appearing more familiar to Lucy, she stopped fiddling with the Ushabti and set it on the dash, preferring to gaze around at all the changes. Even if she could go to and from this place on a whim, she rarely had in the last few years, as dangerous things lurked around her old stomping ground, looking for her. But since Lincoln was here, she figured it'd be far safer.

They ended up in a fair bit of morning traffic.

Eventually, Lucy began growing very impatient at this fact.

"I could teleport the car?" she offered after making a frustrated noise, and he sighed.

"Yeah, and let everyone in a ten mile radius know that magic is real? Totally brilliant idea, Lucy. No, you get to take a lesson in patience today. Not everybody gets to teleport or whatever it is you do."

"It's not teleportation, nerd," she said, crossing her arms, "It's disconnection. Disconnect there, reconnect here. You know, with the world strings." Oh, right, how could he forget that piece of obscure Egyptian mythology? He dragged his hand down his face as he bumper-to-bumpered forward.

"Yeah, well, Neith's not here right now so we're driving. Besides, Thoth knows you want to stop and get a burrito at Jean Juan's." Underneath her long bangs, Lucy's eyebrow arched. So he was getting better at it?

"You do that often?" she asked, and he chuckled.

"Not like he gives me a choice. He just sticks stuff in my brain and boom, I know it. It's pretty uncomfortable when I find a piece of random information I shouldn't know." He rolled his shoulders, trying to stop slouching in boredom, since it was making his muscles tense again and he'd rather enjoyed being so loose after his time with Lynn.

"Hm. Must've been a side effect of the Grand Divination, it's happening more around here, right?" She hadn't noticed him pulling random knowledge so much back at their home, else she might have tried to cast a spell on him to make it happen more frequently, but if it was naturally boosted by proximity to divine areas, she figured he wouldn't need an augmentation spell. Besides, he seemed to be almost annoyed by such an ability. She couldn't imagine anyone other than Lincoln complaining about having the blessing of the God of Knowledge.

"Still tempted to teleport the car," she said after a small time of silence, and Lincoln hit his head on the steering wheel.

"No, Lucy. Bad witch. If you're so bored, why'd you come into the car before the traffic? Didn't you know we'd be sitting in it?" She considered this for a moment, and shrugged again.

"I just wanted to annoy you," she deadpanned, and the twisting of his face into one of that exact annoyance brought the corners of her mouth up slightly.

"Yeah, like that," she said, and he tried to compose himself. It took them maybe fifteen more minutes until the jam started moving again, and they passed by an overturned car, Lucy attempting to get a glance at the body.

"Oh, dang," she said, he felt a rise in the energy of the car as she searched the Book.

"Well, that guy was a creep anyway, he deserved it." Always fun with Lucy Loud, Lincoln thought, and rolled his eyes. Her doom and gloom ways certainly were interesting considering the fact out of all his sisters she'd been the one he'd been stuck with living with him. But, he guessed, it was better than allowing her to be some place where she'd have to face any of the Invisible Ones alone. Lincoln couldn't sense them, but he was a great distraction for them, because of their family's latent magical bloodline.

He glanced at her though, as she eavesdropped on the lives of more of the people involved in the accident they'd just witnessed. He gave her a look.

"What? I don't look at everything, you know that." He couldn't tell if that was a lie or not, but he figured there were plenty of things she didn't tell him.

"Why not use your stupid powers to find us the best route to Mom's place?" he tried, and she stared his way.

"Tch, I'm not a GPS, Lincoln," she said, but then suddenly reached over and jerked the steering wheel as they went through an intersection. This caused the car to swerve rather violently, but as it did so, another car slammed it's breaks when they narrowly avoided the collision, if Lucy hadn't done that the guy would've hit them square in the driver's side door.

"Saved your life," Lucy said, and for the rest of the ride she was sitting there with a smug smile. It only took them a few more minutes before they pulled into the driveway of the small, quaint home that their parents and sister lived now. Pulling into the drive, he got out of the car with Lucy, and looked to her for what to do. Normally, he'd just walk up and knock on the door, but when you had someone who was more well informed nearby, it sometimes paid to let them do their thing.

"It'll wake Lily up, but ring the doorbell," she said, and so they approached the front door, and he pressed the doorbell, a chime sounding inside the building as he did so. After a few seconds he could hear movement, and Lynn, Sr. opened the door.

"Hey Dad!" the two said in unison, and he beamed down at them, his greying hair and bald spot were new, but otherwise he looked pretty good for his age. He leaned in for hugs, and took them inside.

"So what's new, son?" he asked excitedly, after all, he was a father and only had one son. Lincoln filled him in on his recent success with the comic, and after a terrible dad joke, he took a seat in the kitchen across the table from his father.

"Lily's sleeping, but I can get you guys something to eat or drink if you want." Lucy was already at the fridge, and pulled their leftover French Mex out, heating it in the microwave. Lincoln figured that was why she hadn't demanded they stop at Jean Juan's, she'd probably known it was there, and they both knew that Rita and Lynn never really finished their leftovers, since they'd always been used to giving them to their massive family.

"She'll be out in a bit, I'm sure," Lincoln said, and he could hear from the hall voices trailing in, one certainly belonged to Rita, and the other, Lily. From what he could tell, she sounded adorable. He couldn't wait to see her.

"So, how have you been, Lucy? Got anything going on yet? Lincoln told me you're staying with him to go to college." That was a lie, of course, somebody like her didn't need money, and so she faltered a bit. Shoot, he'd forgotten to tell her the story, and evidently she hadn't looked into it with her abilities.

"Oh, uh, yeah... I'm studying stage makeup... You know, making people look like monsters?" He guessed he was lucky she was so witty with Thoth's blessing about her, she'd nailed the ruse. He accepted that, said it was great that she'd decided to do something with her time other than poetry, complained about how poetry didn't pay bills, and then turned back to him. He could see behind his father as Lucy gave him a gesture of unhappiness, flipping him the bird. He rolled his eyes, they both knew that their father would tell their mother, and she'd demand to see some stage makeup, and now Lucy had to conjure a kit, summon the knowledge, and present a good enough lie. She'd be fine, though, she'd be able to pull that off with a false trip to the car or bathroom.

Rita came in to the room, her aging appearance still familiar to them both, and Lincoln smiled up at her.

"Oooh, look at you!" she squealed, and ran to hug him tightly, and he hugged her back.

"Hi, Mom," he said, and she moved to do the same for Lucy. She then opened the oven and pulled out a tray of cookies.

"I baked these for you guys, here, have one." Lucy stared at the cookies, causing an awkward pause for Rita as she held the tray toward her. Eventually, it became a bit too long of a pause, and so she moved on.

"Here, Lincoln, try one." He took a cookie from the tray and nibbled on it to appease the motherly instinct. She sat at the table.

"Lily, your sister's here too!" she shouted down the hall.

"Which one?!" came the obvious response, and Rita looked embarrassed for a second when she had the epiphany.

"Lucy!" she replied, and there was a high-pitched squeal of joy and loud thumping footsteps as she ran down the hall. She'd skipped getting dressed, he figured, when she came in wearing simply her nightgown.

But she'd grown so much!

Lily now stood just under five feet tall, sure it was a little short for her age but she'd grow a bit more, he was sure. Her blonde hair was long, and worn low in two pigtails, which draped over her shoulders. She wasn't wearing it, but normally she wore Lana's old hat, and he pictured her rosy cheeks underneath the red, and his heart welled up.

"So cuuuute," he said as he stood, and opened his arms.

"Big bro's here, yesss!" She practically leaped onto him, clamping her arms around his waist as they embraced.

"Man, you're getting heavy now," he said jokingly as he swung her in a circle. He put the girl down and she grinned up at him.

"You know it, check out these guns!" She cocked an arm and slid back her sleeve. Lynn would be proud, but he was sure she'd been over plenty of times to teach Lily what she knew.

"Lynn give you those?" he questioned, and she nodded.

"Yep, she's teaching me to sword fight!" She made a few motions, mocking her fencing style in the air. He was impressed, really, he didn't think she'd want to learn something like that. But then again, Lily loved learning, a trait she'd inherited the same as Lisa had. Her enthusiasm, though, that was all her own, despite the amalgamation of her sister's traits.

"And I know a bunch of judo!" She went to show him, but he placed a hand on her head and kept her at arm's length. There'd be none of that! But to his surprise, she wrapped her arm around his forearm and twisted it, forcing the limb to turn and with it, his shoulder, spinning him backward relatively quickly.

"Ow," he said, "hey!" She let him go and laughed, and he smiled sheepishly as he watched her. Her laugh was as pretty as he remembered it. She really was growing up to be the best their family had to offer.

"Hey, Lucy!" she chimed next, and bounced over to the gloomy girl, whom had been watching with no real amusement on her face at her sibling's antics.

"Hey, squirt," she said flatly, sipping at the juice she'd poured herself. The microwave beeped, and she pulled her food out to cool.

"I thought you were in Oregon?" Lily asked, giving her a hug, which was half-returned.

"Figured I'd come see my favorite sister," she offered, and gave her the signature tiny smile. Lily leaned in, placing a hand near her mouth.

"Shhh, don't tell nobody, but you're my favorite too," she said, which Lincoln barely caught, but he knew she said that to all of her sisters. Still, it made Lucy happy, he could tell by the way her weight shifted from one foot to another.

"Mm. That so?" she said back, and ruffled Lily's hair.

"Yep!" She stole a bite of her burrito, and laughed and fled from Lucy's wrath as she gave brief chase. She hid behind Lincoln, and he reached behind him to tickle her, which had the effect of dislodging her from him.

"You guys are jerks, don't team up on me!" Their parents laughed.

"Lily, sit down, it's time for breakfast. You hungry, Lincoln?" He shook his head as she poured some cereal for Lily, whom had sat down, but was still kicking her legs, a bundle of energy.

"So, Lily, learn anything new lately, besides fencing?" Lincoln asked, and she nodded.

"Oh, yeah, lots of stuff. I'm in high school, remember? Duh. I'm taking chemistry this year... I asked Lisa how to make napalm."

"Don't remind me," Lynn, Sr. stated, and pointed a thumb over his shoulder.

"She nearly burned down the backyard. That stuff burns for a long time, you know."

"Well it's not like I meant to break the jar," she said, obviously lying. Lincoln randomly knew she'd smashed it against the tree in the back. Lana would be proud.

"History is pretty boring, but it's not all that bad... Mister Kaiser is teaching us all sorts of stuff about ancient cultures." He felt rather than saw Lucy bristle slightly, her form going rigid at the mention. Why it affected her like that, he wasn't sure, but he was sure it had to do with what she knew.

"Personally I think the Greeks and Romans could've done better," Lily stated, "I mean, just look at the Chinese. Oh, and the Egyptians." Lucy gasped slightly and he looked over his shoulder at her. She played it off like her burrito had burned her. He smiled to his youngest sister.

"Yeah, those Egyptians did lots of crazy stuff..."

"Speaking of ancient cultures," Lucy said, moving her food to the table and sitting next to Lily. She produced the Ushabti from her pocket, and handed it to Lily.

"That's from Grandpa Albert. Pop Pop said he found it in an ancient palace in Vietnam, and he wanted you to have it." She'd practically fabricated that, but he knew better than to ask how she'd known where he'd found it. Lily took the small thing, and examined it.

"What's it say?" she asked after awhile, "I've never seen this kind of writing before."

"It's Sumerian cuneiform," Lincoln said, and Lucy took the statue back to read it to her.

"It says: May the Gods allow you passage, may the clouds part before you, and may your journey come to an end. It's a burial Ushabti. Many cultures believed being buried with an Ushabti would allow it to come to life as a servant for you in the afterlife." Lincoln raised his eyebrow. Why would Lily need one of those? She was barely fifteen, he doubted she'd be dying any time soon.

"Woah, cool," Lily said and took it back, looking over the strange markings. She'd heard about the Sumerians, they were one of the very first civilizations, and had always been mentioned in history books since she was pretty young.

They talked and caught up, and after awhile, Lily demanded to spend time with her siblings doing some of the things she enjoyed. She got dressed, and they of course obliged her, Lucy showed her some poetry, Lincoln read comics with her, she insisted she have a fencing match with Lincoln, which ended in him having a few red marks where she'd hit or poked him with the thin, dull blade. She was really good at it, honestly, he didn't stand a chance. But he wasn't really much of a fighter to begin with, he preferred to solve his problems with his brain.

They played some games, and explored the woods a bit, but when the sun was nearly at the horizon, they were called inside. They ate dinner together, and watched a movie, and at the end of the movie, Lily was told to get ready for bed. She protested this, of course, as she didn't get to see her family that often.

"No exceptions, Lily, now get to bed. Break ends tomorrow! We're not having you tired on your first day of school because you wanted to play. Now get!" She was shooed to her room, pouting and angry, and when her door was closed behind her by her mother, she stomped her foot.

"NO FAIR!" she shouted at the door, and was ignored. She never got to stay up, they were always so strict with her bed time. She wasn't a little kid anymore! She paced, steaming. She'd been having so much fun with Lincoln and Lucy, why did it have to end now? She didn't want to be cooped up in her room for the rest of the night, and she wasn't even tired! Eventually, her rebellious nature got the better of her, and she decided to have some fun of her own. That would show them!

Rather than getting ready for bed, she got ready to take a hike, packing a bag with a jacket, some snacks she'd stashed in her desk, a bottle of water, and the compass Lisa had given her for her birthday. As an afterthought, as she stood at her window, she went back to where she'd left the Ushabti on her desk, and packed that too, for good luck. She grabbed her flashlight, and put her training foil at her hip. She'd show them. It was time for an adventure! The teen went to her window, the building only had one story unlike the larger Loud House, so slipping out was easy enough. She closed it behind her, since she knew it was unlocked, and stepped off into the night.

There was something that was always so freeing when she did this, which was pretty frequently, and she headed off into the woods in the opposite direction of the way they'd gone before, when Lincoln and Lucy were with her. The small patch of trees didn't last long, and she broke out the other side onto a suburban street, which she followed until it breached back into the greater forest at the edge of town. She went passed the trees, the darkness swallowing the young girl as she jumped over logs, ducked branches, and had herself a good look around. She was following a small trail, probably made by woodland creatures, glad she'd worn jeans when she brushed passed a small amount of poison ivy on the side of the path.

She walked for what seemed like an hour, just happy to be free. This forest was getting more dense as she went, but undeterred, she pressed on, until something in the distance through the trees caught her eye. It looked to be a flame, a fire burning somewhere far beyond, and she moved toward it, her curious nature leading her to see what it was so far out. It was dark enough at this point she'd needed her flashlight, so it was pretty evident that, without any other source of light around, this was probably a man-made source.

In about fifteen minutes, she would come across a small cabin in the woods.

The fire was coming from a pit out front of the cabin, which was dug about a couple feet into the ground, and burning. The smell was terrible, she covered her nose with her shirt as she walked to the edge of the pit and looked inside.

The burning bodies of dozens of dead animals filled the pit, and her face twisted in disgust as she looked upon them. Squirrels, rabbits, a few deer... Around the pit were littered dead plants, dry and lifeless, and even the edge of the clearing, some of the bushes were starting to die. What was this place? She looked to the cabin, which sat imposing and dark before her. As the beam of her flashlight wandered over it's form, she noticed markings along the wood that looked familiar to her. Hieroglyphs?

Suddenly, the door burst open, and a person with a lantern, clad in a dark robe, stepped out.

"Who goes there?!" he shouted at her, and she gasped in surprise as the cloaked individual looked right at her. She couldn't make out the features of his face, but his eyes glinted in the darkness. They weren't normal, even from this distance she could tell...

His pupils were slits, not round.

"Vile fiend! Stop right there!" he cried, and started moving toward her. She wasted no time, and immediately bolted, running toward the nearest block of bushes she could get behind. He continued to shout for her to stop, but she didn't listen, running through the forest for only about three minutes or so before she breached the trees again, and looked around.

Train tracks.

She stood on the tracks for a train, in one direction she saw only darkness, and in the other, faint lights. She was trying to avoid some crazy person, so her immediate idea was to head towards the lights, assuming there were people in that direction... Maybe she could find a policeman and get a ride home? From the direction of the house, she could hear the man searching for her, and she turned off her flash light, walking at a brisk pace down the tracks, already winded from her flight. She went towards the light, the long tracks taking some time to fall behind her. She checked the compass, she was heading north, away from Royal Oaks, but she was sure she was already a few hour's walk from home anyway.

She walked for what seemed like more hours, but was more realistically minutes, before she slipped, and caught herself with her hands before she could face plant. The tracks were wet, as if by rain, but it hadn't rained around here in a week. She got to her feet, and kept going, but for some reason she had a nagging feeling something wasn't quite right...

A few more feet, and the world flipped.

Now, it didn't literally upturn itself, but that's what it FELT like it did, for a moment, Lily's vision spun and the horizon was no longer apparent, when it stopped, she had the strange sensation of feeling like she were both upside down and standing normally, her hair blew with a gentle breeze, and everything was somehow... Different. The first thing she noticed was the curve of the tracks. It had been sloping gently to the right, but now sloped gently to the left. The bushes at the side of the tracks were discolored slightly; they seemed like they were just a bit more blue than they had been.

But perhaps the strangest thing was the sudden flash of light that came from the horizon through the forest. Curious by nature, she climbed the tallest tree nearby, and with the help of her ample muscles, was able to get near the top.

Out over a sea of discolored trees, the sun was rising, but from the west, not the east, and hours, hours too early. The weirdest part was that the sun seemed tiny. It was half the size of the sun she was used to, and something was FOLLOWING it.

Tendrils of light trailed from the thing as it moved ever so slowly, and behind it, a massive beetle, a scarab, she recalled, seemed to be pushing the sun forward at a snail's grandmother's pace. It's limbs moved so slowly, in fact, she almost thought for a moment it was standing still, until she'd watched long enough to realize his legs were indeed moving.

"What the hell?!" she exclaimed to herself as she looked at such a sight, and she rubbed her eyes with one hand, clinging to the tree branches with the other. No, her eyes weren't fooling her, a giant beetle was rolling the sun like a dung ball. She returned to the ground, and looked around. Back the way she'd came, everything just looked like more of the same, so she ran down the tracks on the path she'd just traveled, running until her breath would take her no further. It didn't change back. The tracks were still wet.

At a loss for any other course of action, Lily checked her compass. It now pointed south as though that were north, the needle unsure of even itself as it wobbled unsteadily off course, and she frowned and put it away. It would be mostly useless to her like that.

Without anything better to do, she started walking the tracks as she had been before, her mind reeling with this strange place and it's attributes.

She grew afraid, then, wondering if this place was really so unfamiliar, and when she finally breached the oddly-colored forest, there were no suburbs in sight. Before her was a vast and open plain, golden grains blowing in the steady breeze. There were no fields like this near Royal Oaks, she thought, as she stepped into it. In the middle of the plains before her, she could see a structure, and walked toward it. As she neared it's white stone, she noticed there was more to the structure, the part she'd seen was an obelisk jutting from the roof of a small building. She stepped inside, the hissing of the grain in the wind dying away as her foot met the stone floor.

Inside of the small, square building, there was an altar.

Atop the altar sat various offerings of plants, she assumed they were some kinds of herbs, and sticks of incense. One of them still burned, filling the place with an odd odor she didn't recognize.

"I wish I knew what this place was," Lily said idly to herself, and nearly jumped when something behind her spoke.

"I'm glad you asked," came the voice, and she wheeled around. Before her stood a jackal, sitting on it's hind quarters, and looking up at her. She looked passed it, surely it couldn't have been the source of the voice? But there was nobody else, and she looked back to the jackal.

"...Where am I?" she tried, and he turned his snout toward the altar.

"That is the Altar of Anubis," came the voice, though the jackal's mouth didn't move. She realized she seemed to be hearing it inside of her own head, which gave her goosebumps.

"Anubis... As in, the Egyptian God?"

"Anubis as in the God of this place," he corrected, and stepped toward the altar, "Where you come from they might only have worshiped him thousands of years ago, but that is their loss. He was never an Egyptian God, as you put it, he is only a God. The Egyptians were just smart."

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. But the walls were lined with hieroglyphs, many of them featuring the visage of a jackal-headed man, and prominently, on a mural behind the altar, there featured a scene. Anubis knelt by a set of scales, and on one of the scales floated a feather, on the other, a human heart. Seeing that particular detail made a shiver run up her spine.

"What is this place?" she asked, rephrasing the question.

"You are standing in the Duat," the jackal replied.

"Do-aht...?"

"You'd call it the Egyptian Underworld. We just call it the Underworld." He tilted his head curiously regarding her as she set down her backpack and ran a hand into her hair, processing all of this.

"I'm in the Underworld...? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" She kicked at the floor, and pulled at her hair, trying to wrap her mind around the fact she was technically standing in the afterlife.

"Afraid not," the jackal said, adding, "You must be dead. Lots of people die. You're no exception, I suppose." He curled up on the floor as he watched her, his eyes locked and unblinking.

"I can't be dead, I was just walking! That's it! That's all I did! I walked here!" After her initial shock cleared, she looked around the place once more. She was definitely here, and she'd definitely not died. Or did she die? She didn't know the answer to that.

"Denial isn't good for the fur," the jackal said, and she glared at him.

"Who are you, anyway?" she asked, voice poisonous and sour.

"I am one of Anubis's consorts, as you'd say. Here we call him Anpu... You may call me Anth, I believe that is how humans would say my name." She tested the name on her tongue, and found it to be easy enough despite the strange inflection.

"Well, Anth... What are you doing here, then? Consort of Anu... Anpu aside." He got up from his place on the floor and circled her a few times, as if excited.

"Why, I'm here to assist you of course! You carried an Ushabti here, did you not? The price was paid for one servant, and one servant you shall have. Me!" He stopped in front of her now, and sat on his hindquarters.

"Great... So now a talking dog is going to follow me around... Let's hope you're worth the trouble," she said, and his ears flattened in distaste.

"I am not a dog. I am a proud canid, thank you very much." He took a stuffy pose with her, and she frowned at him.

"I don't care what you are. If you're here to help, then you can help by telling me how I'm supposed to get home."

He seemed to think about it for a moment, and turned his nose upward toward the entrance to the small temple.

"Well, there's only one way out of the Duat," he said, motioning for her to come closer with a wave of his snout. She gazed out of the entrance in the direction he pointed. Extremely far off in the distance there was a towering city, sitting atop a mountain, shining in the bright light of the early sun.

"That is where you must go. That is the throne of the Gods, the shining jewel of the Duat, the city of ivory, the Palace of the Heart. There, you will find all of the greatest. In your language, they are Thoth, Horus, Ma'at, Atum, Set, Bastet, and Neith. Any other deities you may come across have chosen other domiciles... Although many of those Gods are currently busy bringing your people the sun." He stepped outside and turned his face up toward the beetle as it rolled along, it had made a small amount of progress, Lily noted, as she stepped out ahead. Behind the beetle, whom had fully emerged from the horizon, there was a small boat, or what looked to be small and boat-like though she was sure with how far away it was it was a rather massive ark. It trailed along behind the scarab, just as slowly.

"They are making the journey through the sky of the Duat, great Khepri is busy preparing your sun for it's rise again by collecting the energy which souls leave behind as they pass through the Duat." Lily wouldn't have believed what she was hearing if the things weren't right before her. Khepri still moved slow, his huge form casting a shadow over entire mountains.

"This is insane," she muttered to herself, but Anth didn't seem to believe so as he spun a quick circle as if chasing his tail.

"I assure you, madame, that you are not experiencing any defunct mental faculty. You will find the insanity lies further toward the Palace," he said, and she blinked. What insanity? Did she even want to know at this point?

Thinking it over, she figured that going to this palace was the best bet. If that giant beetle thing was a deity, and she really was in the Underworld, not that she doubted that what with the talking canid, then maybe it was those very Gods whom could assist her in returning to her home.

She went inside and fetched her bag, had a sip of water, and shouldered it. Returning to Anth, she took in a deep breath, and looking out over the too-golden field of grain before her, she took her first step.


	2. Chapter 2: The Coming Storm

**Chapter Two: The Coming Storm**

It became apparent rather quickly to Lily as she walked that the landscape of the Duat was not easy to master. In many places there seemed to be softer ground or even mud, she'd had to skirt through the edge of the fields to make it into the jungle beyond, and in that jungle she'd found hideous rats that scurried the underbrush. They bothered her feet as she kicked them away, though they didn't seem particularly aggressive. They were all headed in the direction she was going, running at her from behind, she'd long since taken to using her training foil as a makeshift machete, it didn't do very well but it was better than nothing.

The buzzing of locusts and other insects was strikingly loud, here in this part of the landscape, and it rattled her ears so constantly that she'd wished for a set of earplugs. Anth followed along behind her, occasionally moving ahead, she assumed to check for danger. At least, that was what she hoped he was doing, considering she'd had no idea what sorts of things could exist here. She was glad she'd brought her boots, though she nearly lost one to a sinkhole, there were enough vines in the area to pull herself clear, and Anth guided her the rest of the way out.

When they finally left the jungle, it gave way to vast, rolling sands that stretched further than anything she'd thought possible. Khepri had pushed the sun far enough that she guessed it to be about "ten o'clock Duat time," though Anth had corrected her, stating that time worked differently here. It was not beholden to the rules of the sun's travel above, for example, he told of a time when Apep, the great serpent that attempted to eat Ra and the sun every so often, had come to do just that. The resulting battle lasted quite some time, evidently, before Apep had been forced to spit everyone he'd devoured back up by Thoth and the rest of the entourage of Ra's defenders. He clarified however, that Apep's defeat had meant he had left the Duat, to realms unknown even to the Gods, and so far had not return. There had been no effect on the people of Earth, evidently the sun rose and they remained ignorant of such a battle ever taking place.

For her sake, she hoped to never meet such a being, but when he described it, a massive snake, longer than anything she could imagine, she looked out over the winding sand dunes that now lay before her.

"Apep...? Does his hieroglyph look like this?" she asked, and in the sand drew a snake with four bends in it's long body, and Anth nodded in response.

"I've seen it before, then," she said, and Anth quickly erased her drawing in the sand.

"Do not ever do that again, for the sheer creation of a visage of Apep gives him power. It is also best not to ever speak his name. Instead, we use a title here in the Duat. He is the Sun Eater, and nothing more, he is chaos personified, and those who worship such an evil deity are some of the sorcerers of your world. That is likely where you have seen this image before. Now come, we must go, before Baal arrives from the east." She tilted her head at him, as Anth began to move through the sands, and she jogged to catch up.

"Who's Baal?" she questioned, and his ears flattened. She had generally taken this by now as a sign he was upset, or frowning.

"He is the Storm God, from another land, he comes here to feast on the souls of those he catches in the open. It's best we seek shelter. I can feel his presence growing." So together, they continued along, mounting a dune, sliding down the other side, Lily did her best not to get sand in her boots, but when it was everywhere like this, it was understandable that she failed in that endeavor. She could worry about it later, when they stopped.

Anth seemed sure that they would find adequate shelter in time, but as soon as she could hear the rumble of thunder in the distance, Lily grew more worried. It wasn't long before the wind had picked up, and it stung her flesh with sand coming from the tips of the dunes as they mounted one after another. Eventually, she required using her arm as a shield so she could still see. If only she'd known how today was going to go, she would've brought her goggles.

The sandstorm picked up as Anth's pace did, he begged her to move faster and together they began to run, a difficult task considering all the loose sand, she supposed this was exactly why Lynn had always done sprints in sand boxes when they were younger. She wished Lynn could be here with her, now, giving her the usual pep talk, telling her she could do it, as the wind began to roar around her. She could hear the laughter of some great being coming from around her, she could only assume it was Baal.

"Over here!" Anth's mind-voice beckoned, she could hardly make his form out in all the sand. It got into her eyes more than once, and though it stung, she knew the only thing she could do was press on. She had already pulled her shirt over as much of her face as she could.

Eventually, Anth led her to safety, a cave, tucked gently underneath the top of a dune, and she slid down the entrance without hesitation, her skin pink from the sting of the sand as she finally found some reprieve. She reached into her bag for her flashlight, and turned it on. It didn't seem to work very well, the darkness was so thick that the beam didn't hit the back wall. Rather unusual.

"Seems we've found Kek," Anth mentioned as he stood atop one of the many rocks piled about the entrance, and his snout pointed inward toward the back of the cave.

"Another one of those strange beings?" Lily questioned, and Anth shook his head.

"Kek is a God of primordial darkness. He cares not to effect you like Baal might. He is a benign God. It seems part of him rests in this cave, giving it this unnatural lack of light. Best be on our guard." He walked further inside, and, not wanting to be left alone in the darkness, Lily followed him. With the storm at their backs, there really was only one way to go. If this tunnel led somewhere else, it would be nice to know.

"So... Anth," she started idly as they walked slowly through the darkness, keeping their caution about them.

"How hard do you suppose it is to get to the Palace?" she questioned, and the canid looked over his shoulder, trotting in a fairly content fashion.

"Oh, incredibly difficult," he said, and she swallowed.

"What? How so?" Lily questioned, and the little jackal barked once, almost like he were laughing.

"Why, you've got to pass the Three Gates, and their guardians, and that's not including everyone, like Baal for example, that you might run into on the way. And then, once you're there, you won't even be let in to Aaru unless your heart is deemed most pure." Lily didn't like these ideas, and she swallowed again, her throat awfully dry. She decided to quench her thirst with more of the water she carried. But then again, if her goal was to go home, what was this Aaru?

"What's Aaru, Anth?" she questioned, and he let out another canid laugh-bark. His eye regarded her from the side of his face as he turned slightly toward her, Lily choosing not to meet his gaze in favor of scanning the tunnel with her flashlight. It was hard to pierce the darkness, but she could make out that the cavern was narrowing, could see inscriptions on the walls in the ancient cuneiform from before, coupled with other various texts, including hieroglyphs.

"Why, Aaru is the paradise of the dead, of course. Once your _ib_ has been weighed against the Ma'at feather, you will know the truth of the purity of your heart. And, if it is lighter than the feather, you will ascend to Aaru. If not..." His voice trailed off in her head and she stopped for a moment.

"If not, what?" He spun around to face her, his eyes flashing in the darkness from the light of her plastic torch.

"If not, then your _ka_ will be devoured by the Ammit, I'm afraid, and you will be gone forever, lost to the Devourer of Souls," he stated, like it were no big deal, and she figured he'd probably seen this happen many times by now anyway, though it was no great comfort to her to know that even if she made it to the safety of the Palace, death might still find her.

Her mind raced with the possibilities, and somewhere along the line, her memory was jogged, and she saw a vision of her sister, Lucy, fending off some unseen force. She was so little at the time, she was surprised she remembered it... Lucy had known about all of this. That's why she could read the ancient text like it was no big deal, that's why she'd gotten tense at her mention of the Egyptians.

This all had something to do with Lucy!

"Would my sister be able to save me from this place?" she wondered to Anth, who shook his head.

"Afraid not. She made it here, once, but she of all people knows that to do so again would be suicide, her body wouldn't be able to handle it. The Grand Divination she cast to get here was no small feat, which is why many of us have heard of her, which, by the way, explains why you smelled so familiar to me. It was easy to find you. But your sister, that one is special. The little girl who broke the rules... It's fairly rare that we get guests like that. They come seeking the Book of Thoth, and your sister was by far the youngest witch to ever find it." Lily's head perked up slightly. Did she say witch? So that's what Lucy was... A witch. Her mind replayed that day they'd spent alone. She'd loved hearing the stories... She remembered that name, Ma'at. She'd heard it before, to her it had sounded so fantastic, so wonderful, a name which dripped pure love and strength and truth.

She needed to find this Ma'at. She would know what to do. They started walking again.

"I sure wish Lincoln were here... My brother's always got it figured out..." She sighed, homesick for the first of many times here in the Duat she was sure. Anth was silent for a time, letting her wallow in her grief at the loss of her whole world, before he chimed in.

"You could be dead you know, and what then? You have only to wait for them to join you, right? Cheer up, dearest Lily, we will find the way to the Palace yet, or my name isn't Anth. Which, well, actually, it's not, that's just a translation... But you wouldn't understand the language of the Gods so easily as a mortal anyway." He seemed amused by his own 'joke', and she sighed once more. They had come to a more narrow passage and now the walls were fully visible to them as they headed down into the endless blackness of Kek, unable to see the end of their path.

When they came to a crossroads, Lily's light poured down each of the three tunnels, and of course, they could tell not which was the correct way.

"Just great," she cursed to herself, "Now what, Anth? There's no way we can split up in all this, I'd never find you again... And I think I'd go crazy not having somebody to help me, even if you are a bit... Err..."

He gave her a flat little canine look, and she smiled sheepishly.

"Right, well then... Why don't we take a look at the markings on the walls? Perhaps they can give us some clues. I would say I've been here before, but, well, out of everyone I've guided, you're certainly the most foolish to travel through one of Baal's storms." She bristled visibly, and lifted a finger to him.

"You're the one that's guiding me! I didn't choose to-"

"Ah, but you followed. I am but a guide, I am not forcing you to go where I say. That is your choice, just as this path is yours. Now you have a choice of three paths, and which one you take will be up to you. Allow me." His claws skittered in the dirt as he loped up to the walls and began reading for any sort of clues, translating them for her and being as useful as he really could.

"There's a theme here," he said, and directed her light up to the top of the tunnels.

"It reads: follow your heart, and you shall find Ma'at. But follow your Sheut, and you shall find that Ba... Ba-Pef? Hmm..." She was at a loss. Surely, she wanted to find Ma'at, right? But what of Ba-Pef?

"Ba-Pef, it literally means 'that _ba_ '. What _ba_ , I don't know, but I'm sure that you'll want to find Ma'at preferably. I've heard tales of Ba-Pef, a specific _ba_ of a human which has never left the Duat. If it really is that _ba_ , then it's a _ba_ you don't want to meet." Lily gave him a puzzled look and he looked back up at the inscription.

"Your mortal soul is made up of five parts," he explained, "Your _ka_ , the part of you which is your vital spark, that which makes you alive. Your _ren_ , or your name, in this case yours is Lily. And as long as it is still spoken, it shall never die. Your _sheut_ is your shadow, that part of you which follows you everywhere, that connects you to Anubis, and the dead. Without your _sheut_ I could not serve you. Never let it be stolen. Your _ib_ is your heart, it's the part of you that you must carry as a burden to the Gods as proof you are worthy to enter Aaru. Then there's your _ba_. This is what makes you, you. It is your personality, your ideas, your flame. To lose your _ba_ would be to lose yourself, and that _ba_... Ba-Pef as he's called... Is a lost _ba_. The only lost _ba_ still around. Without his _ka_ , joined to him in the afterlife, he will never give his _ib_ to the Gods for judgement, and he will never escape the Duat. They say he has roamed since the dawn of time, and he doesn't take kindly to others."

Lily took a moment to digest all of that information, and she stared intently at the inscription and at Anth. Follow her heart to find Ma'at, follow her _sheut_ to find Ba-Pef... She looked at the ground, and realized she wasn't casting a shadow. Of course not, she was in the afterlife, right? Her _sheut_ was probably holed up inside of her, or perhaps... Her eyes widened.

"Ohhh that's not good," she said, and Anth gave her a quizzical expression in return.

"I've been following my _sheut_ this whole time," she groaned, realizing that indeed what Anth had said earlier was true. She hadn't questioned his directions, she'd simply followed the servant of Anubis, she'd followed her _sheut_. Anth looked a bit upset at this realization, how could he have known they'd come to this sort of a test? He'd only been doing his job, and Lily couldn't be mad at him. But she was probably right.

"Then, Lily... You must begin to follow your heart." She took a deep breath, and tried to calm herself. She had to focus on her ib, to test herself and her ability to choose the truth over the false. But nothing was coming to her.

"What would Lincoln do?" she asked herself, and rubbed her temples. She pictured him going detective on the area, looking for clues, and using some form of completely off-based logic to determine the appropriate path, which was likely not the appropriate path. Well, that didn't help much. But it did give her a feeling, one that trickled through her veins, one that filled her with hope. Lincoln was probably worried sick for her by now, and she wanted that truth to never be reality. But it was probably true.

She felt her heart thump, heavy in her chest, and she slowed her breathing. It thumped again, and she had made her choice. She stepped forward, with Anth at her side, and took the middle tunnel. In just a few seconds, she breached into an antechamber, and the darkness floated like a cloak behind her; they'd emerged from Kek's influence. But, it would seem, he was staying away for a reason. There came a sound from the other side of the chamber, and Lily saw it, a huge, ethereal creature, half bird and half serpent, slithering around, it's wings folded under it's long, crooked beak. She ducked behind a nearby rock, Anth following, he jumped into her arms and she pulled him in, keeping them hidden.

Ba-Pef made a hissing noise as he moved about the other side of the chamber. She didn't understand, she'd followed her heart, why did it lead her to Ba-Pef anyway?

"It's Ba-Pef," Anth confirmed, his voice inside her head so she figured he need not be quiet. Convenient, really, but she gave him a knowing look, having already figured that much. Now she needed a way to get passed him. Her? It? It didn't matter. She heard the crack of bone and the slop of wet meat as the thing fed one some unseen prey, and she groaned internally. That might end up being her... She weighed her options. Did she make a run for it? No, that thing was a snake, Lincoln had said snakes were super fast. Did she use a distraction? Maybe... Lucy had done that more than once to get her attention off of specific objects or places, she figured a small tunnel on the other side of the antechamber wouldn't be too hard to get to if the Ba-Pef were focused else where.

"Anth," she whispered, as quietly as possible, "I'm going to need your help here... You've got to distract him so I can get to the other side. You're faster than me, you can catch up." The little canid in her arms quivered with fear suddenly.

"W-What? Me? And ruin this coat? Do you know how long it took to-" she pulled one of his ears, and he rolled his neck to get it away from her fingers.

"Ouch! Those are sensitive you know." She rolled her eyes, then glared at him.

"I really need this, Anth, I don't feel like dying if I'm not already dead. Or even if I am already dead!" He was trembling still, but she gave him a hug, and then set him down.

"Now be a good Ushabti." He took a step, his ears drooping, and he looked back at Lily, fear on his face. She nodded, and gave him a smile, which seemed to at least brighten him up somewhat, before she turned away and let him go.

When Anth suddenly burst from the cover, and began barking loudly, she heard the beast move, a loud hiss accompanying a powerful beat of it's wings, kicking up some dust as it slithered toward the sound. She bolted, taking off across the floor as Anth stirred up a commotion, and she watched as he skillfully lead the creature around the rocks, using his speed to his advantage and his smaller size accordingly. She supposed he didn't want to die today either.

She could see an exit, though there were a few others, she ran for it, the feeling in her gut telling her that was the right choice. She crossed straight through the room, and just before she could get out of there, she fell.

As she'd had quite a bit of momentum, when her foot caught a rock, it sent her flying. She hit the ground and rolled into the dust, losing her breath with it, and stirring up plenty of noise.

Ba-Pef reared up on his long, snake-like body, and gave a loud squawk with his beak, before he shot right toward her. She attempted scrambling to her feet, but the dust was thick and her feet didn't catch right away, so by the time she pulled herself up, Ba-Pef was upon her. It opened it's toothed beak, and snapped at her, she jumped out of the way as she'd learned to do from Lynn, but it swung its head instead, colliding into her and sending her careening through the air. As luck would have it, she rolled into a downhill tunnel, off to the side of the chamber, and fell straight down into a pool of water. The splash refreshed her attentions, her head spinning, but as she sunk she opened her eyes.

Just below her, there was a light in the water.

"Lily? Lily!" She could hear Anth's voice, faint, trying to find her. But something told her to move toward the light. She swam down, grateful she'd at least managed to have some of her breath, since the pool wasn't so deep that she didn't make it to the bottom before running out. There in the mud and clay, there was something wrapped in cloth, a faintly shimmering, blue glow emanating from between the wrappings. She took it, it was hard and long, and rather heavy, but she began to swim upward, using one hand on the side of the rock wall to keep herself from sinking back down. When she reached the top, she tossed the object over the small lip of the pool, and pulled herself up, coughing. She flopped, wet and ragged, as Anth caught up to her.

"Lily! This isn't good, it's right outside! We've got to... What is that?" Anth moved to stand over her package, noticing the light as well, and she removed her wet backpack, tossing her flashlight in the process as it had shorted out in the water.

She carefully unwrapped the object, and her eyes widened slowly, as well as Anth's, as they beheld it.

It was a sword.

The blade was golden, and had an ever so slight curve to it, the intricate handle reminding her of the ocean, it's cross-guard formed into a single wave, either end pointed in opposite directions, up and down. The handle itself had a curve opposite to that of the blade, ever so slight, and in the center, where the blade met the hilt, was an inscription.

"Ma'at," it read, as Anth translated, and she ran her fingers over the three hieroglyphs.

"I don't get it... Isn't Ma'at spelled with just a single feather?" she questioned, and he nodded.

"That it is. But this has a different meaning. You're thinking of the Goddess, Djehuty's wife, this... This means Truth, Order, Justice, the opposite of all that is Chaos. The opposite, it would seem... Of Apep." She picked up the weapon, and as her hand found the hilt, it became so much lighter, like a feather itself, and she swung it. It cut the air with a ring, and she looked down at Anth.

"I believe you've followed your _ib_ ," he said proudly, and the tremor that came after he said that shook the whole cavern as Ba-Pef slammed against the wall, screeching his displeasure.

"But, I think the sentiments can wait. Do you know how to use that thing?" he asked, and she looked to her foil at her hip, disconnecting it from her belt and letting it clatter to the floor.

"I know enough," she said, though she doubted fighting some fifteen foot tall snake-bird was what Lynn had trained her to do.

"Think you can get his attention again?" she asked, and Anth nodded. It would be a difficult slip, but if it gave her room to work, then he'd have to chance it. He ran back up the slope, Lily at his tail as she fetched her dripping bag, sans flashlight and foil, hiking roughly up the slope, slowed by her wet garments.

"Ready?" she asked when she reached the top, panting slightly, and Anth gave her a look that clearly said 'no', but she took it to be 'as I'll ever be', and then gave him a nod as the signal to go.

He bolted from the cavern just as the creature was rearing to assault their hiding hole again. Instead of slamming into the wall, it twisted in the air and came down, narrowly missing the canid as he shot for the rocks. Lily followed behind him. Ba-Pef had gained on Anth when the shaking had loosened his footing, though, and his next attack struck him, it's beak clamped down over his tail. With a twist of it's massive head, and a yelp of pain from the jackal, it tossed him against the wall, his tail ripping clean off in it's mouth.

Lily gasped, but gritted her teeth, and charged, jumping onto the back of the beast. She slashed at it's wings, and it screeched, attempting to toss her off as she gripped a handful of feathers. She cut at the other wing she wasn't clinging to, and to her surprise, found that her blade bit clean through the joint as she targeted it, severing the whole thing as it fell with a dust cloud to the dirt. That had angered it, surely, and Ba-Pef toss her off, and she rolled through the dust, managing to roll to her knee. She used the sword to steady her as she got up, and Ba-Pef charged.

It slithered side to side as it went, it's one remaining wing curled up close to it's body, making it look far more like a conventional giant serpent as it winded ever closer. She stood her ground, but her fear flowed freely now, she wasn't sure if she could stop it like this.

Right then, the inscription on the blade flashed, and that's when she saw it; Ba-Pef had a blind spot, and she was almost in it. She waited to time it just right, and when it leapt at her, she stepped just a couple feet backward, which allowed it to slam into pure earth, and as it raised it's head, it stared in her direction, but she stood, sword clutched in both hands, waiting.

It sniffed the air, and twisted its head, confused. Then it swung the other way. It blinked, and looked back to where Lily was, the angle had changed, and now he saw her. But as he went to rear back and chomp her with his fanged beak, she didn't waste that much time, and with an elegant thrust, drove her blade straight into it's abdomen. It roared in pain as she dragged it up, twisting her body and practically throwing her sword over her shoulder to complete the cut.

It began to writhe uncontrollably, slamming into rocks, shattering them, sending dust flying everywhere as she shielded her eyes and backed away. Blood spilled everywhere along the floor, evaporating almost immediately as it landed in the soil, leaving behind a strange pattern as she watched it disappear, the remnants of where it had landed etched into the dusty cavern floor.

The _ba_ eventually stopped fighting it's own death, the massive gash up most of it's upper body was too much for it to take, the wound delivered by such a strong blade. When it finally ceased moving, Lily ran to find Anth.

"Anth, Anth! Where are you?" she called, digging through the rubble. She found him behind, thankfully not under, a larger rock, obviously hurt. She slipped the sword into her belt, and took him up in her arms. His tail was leaking blood, and he was whimpering.

"That damn thing got my tail," he said, his voice obviously pained, "I never thought I'd see the day... I think my shoulder will be alright, though... My head hurts like never before." She had to smile through all of his complaining, the poor little thing had survived, and for that she was happy. She wrapped his tail up with the cloth that had been around the sword, and carried him through the cavern, cradled in her arms.

It would be about thirty more minutes, from what she could tell, before they breached into the light of Khepri's glorious sun, now slightly overhead, and she felt glad to feel the light on her skin again. She would let it dry her off. They'd emerged back into that large desert, dotted by the ruins of various stone statues in this stretch, and she looked behind her. Baal's storm had moved on, she could see now as it hit the jungle they'd come from, and she sighed in relief.

With one challenge complete, and a new weapon to help her trials, she felt more confident in herself, though her body ached from getting knocked around. She just hoped that the next creature she came across wasn't so... Dangerous. She regarded Ra's ark as it followed the massive scarab through the sky, wondering if she would meet the Gods which rode upon it's glittering golden bow.

Onward to adventure, she thought, as she turned to continue her trek toward the Palace in the distance.

 **[Author's Note: YAAAY LILY. This is fun to write, maybe I should do more adventure stuff some time.]**


End file.
